Josh Jacobs says Antonio Brown wasn’t around enough to be a distraction

It seems like Antonio Brown being a member of the Oakland Raiders was just a dream, something Josh Jacobs reinforces with his tales of training camp.

Being a rookie in the NFL is never easy, but add to that being a rookie under Jon Gruden and all of a sudden the pressure goes way up. That’s the impression football fans get, but it’s not the one that Josh Jacobs got once he arrived in Oakland after the Raiders made him a first-round draft pick last season.

There was a light side to Jacobs arriving in Oakland, on that involved Gruden inviting him over for a sleepover and a season the ended with him in Rookie of the Year. But there are enough nerves involved with joining the NFL, so imagine what it’s like to have Antonio Brown enter the picture.

That’s what happened with Jacobs, but he says Brown wasn’t much of a distraction to him or the team in training camp.

“A lot of the stuff that was going on, no one even knew until we watched Hard Knocks,” Jacobs told FanSided’s Mark Carman. “When he showed up there wasn’t a problem, but he wasn’t there a lot of the time.”

Brown was traded for and released before season started so what little distraction he was to the Jacobs and the Raiders, he was an afterthought before Week 1 rolled around. From there, the Raiders almost ended up making the playoffs, which is thanks in large part to the rookie season Jacobs put together — one that fans are hoping he builds on for years to come.

Josh Jacobs spoke on behalf of Sleep Number.